I have CCleaner.... Will that be ok ????

CC cleaner is very good-- exactly what it's intended for.
Windows not only accumulates cookies-- a lot of other unnecessary junk as well-- all of this stuff uses up system resources.
Lean and mean as possible is the way to go.

Another good speed-up is to check what sevices are running by default--- see the XP Services Guide from my sig. Windows auto-loads a lot of stuff most people never use-- selectively disabling some stuff will make your system both run and boot faster without harming it.
It takes a little time and some reading-- but you could see a substantial performance boost.

logs clean......

as for the tracking cookies, ih8bills is spot on. The way it works is that every site you go to puts a cookie identifying itself for future reference and to help the site load faster and ID it to the pc. The trick is that *most* sites have valid cookies that don't phone home, or do anything else, such as log your ip at their site. However, some do, and then other companies will come and buy that info; sort of free market research. You'll see it in effect in certain sites when you are looking for something in particular on the web, and see actual ads for the product in a banner on the page somewhere. I remember a debate forum I was in, that was about hunting, and one of the banners was an advert for x-type of ammo. Rather ironic, actually, as we were debating the cons of hunting in this day and age.

CCleaner is an excellent app; the only, and only, reason I don't use it (I use ATF in my signature) is that CCleaner cleans the registry, and I don't really care for that. Having said that, I know MANY many people who use ccleaner on a daily basis and love it, and I know from experience it's a valid app, so it's just my usual finicky self preferring ATF.

How's the rig running? If good, let's mark this puppy solved and toss it on the fixed pile.

thanks,

v

Woooohoooo..... Gooooo you :0)
Apart from AOL disconnecting every 5 mins (no biggy.... Thats AOL for ya lol) all running great.
Not sure if you answered the question about me using the 'clean log' for future reference???

glad to hear it. And AOL, yeah, reliability isn't really their strong point.

What question did you have about 'clean log' for future reference?

thanks,

v

Just.... That if i ever get another trojan, is it ok to use my clean log as a reference to get rid of it???

Hey Lynn,

Chiaz answered it for you on a previous page here, http://www.pchelpforum.com/202187-post23.html.